Publix supermarket to open location in Wilmington

The fast-growing, employee-owned supermarket chain Publix announced this week that it will open its first Wilmington location in late 2016.

According to company spokesperson Kimberly Reynolds, the 45,000-square-foot grocery store will be at the corner of South College Road and Bragg Drive, sandwiched between the nearby Harris Teeter shopping center off Shipyard Boulevard and College and a Food Lion at the corner of College and the South Seventeenth Street Extension.

Reynolds said Publix, a Florida-based company, has been “aggressively” seeking out sites throughout North Carolina over the last several years. Among its more than 1,100 locations, the company now has stores in Charlotte, Cary and Asheville that have all opened within the last year.

“Wilmington is an area we’ve been wanting to serve given its population, growth and location in coastal North Caroline. It’s just a matter of finding the right site,” Reynolds noted in an email response.

Between 125 and 150 employees are hired at each Publix store, Reynolds said. She expects 100 of those positions at the new Wilmington location will be hired locally. The hiring process is likely to begin a month before opening, she said.